JC is ONLINEhttp://jcisonline.com
Preteen Ministry and StuffWed, 24 Jun 2015 12:48:47 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.6http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/JCisOnlinehttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily RotationYou just made penguins smile! Thanks for subscribing.Summer Priorities for Youth Ministryhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JCisOnline/~3/TGmenmtI3w8/
http://jcisonline.com/summer-priorities-for-youth-ministry/#respondWed, 24 Jun 2015 12:37:59 +0000http://jcisonline.com/?p=4754

Summer is always an interesting time in ministry isn’t it? I was thinking the other day about how a lot of places get really chill during the summer months. For me it might be the opposite. But the thing that is definitely different is the amount of opportunities that we have to connect with students and their friends during the summer.

Talking with a mentor the other day, he was explaining that churches generally go crazy with their events during the summer. Trying to do everything in 3 months or they do nothing. They shut down services and do very little programming.

Interesting that we have a tough time finding that balance isn’t it? Also interesting that we probably talk with our people about that balance a lot.

Through all the things going on in the summer for you, I’d like to share a few things that I make a priority in the summer.

Reading

One of the things that I love about the summer is the chance to really dive into some good books. I’m usually reading all year round, but the summer gives me a chance to review my list for the year and also make some changes to my list.

If you are looking for a place to start with some books for the summer, Orange has a great list of resources on their summer reading list.

Conversations

Summer is a unique opportunity to catch people with their guard down. How many people do you see at your neighborhood pool? It’s a chance to see people outside with their families and a great time to interact with them.

Network

Even though their are quite a few on vacation, there are also a few that are doing a lot of planning and theorizing. What a great time to ask questions and learn. Pick up the phone and make some phone calls.

Preparation

The summer is definitely a time to get prepared for the next year of ministry. I think I might take another post to walk through what this looks like for me, but I will just tell you that you should make the most of this time!

Working through teaching calendar, event planning, and even goals (*gasp*) could set you up for greater focus for the next year.

So where do you lean on summer programming? What are some must do things during your summer?

]]>http://jcisonline.com/summer-priorities-for-youth-ministry/feed/0http://jcisonline.com/summer-priorities-for-youth-ministry/How to get the most out of your noteshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JCisOnline/~3/AGJYuoegfl8/
http://jcisonline.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-notes/#respondTue, 28 Apr 2015 21:55:12 +0000http://jcisonline.com/?p=4741

Ever been to a conference or hear a sermon and you just take notes like crazy. Hearing the content, you know that it will be life changing if you just can remember it.

But after writing all these life changing quips, you forget them. They don’t come up in your mind and you can’t apply the life changing truths.

It stinks. But it’s happened to me on more than I’d like to admit.

Over the years, I’ve been taking notes, I’ve had to develop a system to take things and create action items to help me go over content and apply it to my life.

A few years ago I wrote a post during the Orange Conference for turning your notes into action. I think that post is still relevant and I use a lot of what is in that post, but I wanted to give a few more tips for helping you get the most out of your notes.

Get a system

If you haven’t heard of the Bullet Journal System, you should stop and watch this video.

Developing a system of common symbols will help you fly through your notes, looking for the key that you develop. Think of having a map key for your notebooks that will identify action steps, quotes, events, etc.

For me, there are 3 big ones.

The @ symbol: something for me to do.

The * or star if I’m taking analog notes, is something for me to think about.

The ! is something is a priority for me or my team.

Best part is that when I send these notes to Evernote, I can just search through them for those symbols. It makes my processing of notes easier and more effective.

Take Pictures

My mind processes through writing, but there are some things that just need to be seen. Especially when you are at a conference.

Evernote, has an incredible app called Scannable. I’ve used it for my whiteboards, sticky note creative meetings, and business card transactions. It’s quick and it connects to my digital brain, Evernote.

You can also send them via email somewhere else.

When I take analog notes, I usually scan them write into Scannable and upload them to Evernote and process them from there.

Use your Calendar

I was never a huge user of my calendar except for scheduling meetings until I went through Infuse with Jim Wideman. (One of the best decisions I’ve ever made, btw) Now I try to schedule everything in my calendar. Including processing time.

I recently had a meeting with my senior pastor going over a very important initiative he wanted us to work on. I immediately went and scheduled time to process and think and come up with action steps for the project.

Maybe you have some sessions that are duds or meetings that aren’t fruitful, but just imagine taking about 30 minutes to process through those meetings that you walk away from saying, “Wow”.

It’s possible.

Use your lists

For me, this means my to-do list manager, Todoist. I catalog my tasks that I captured in my notes after each meeting or if I’m immediately going somewhere else, I set up a time in my calendar to put tasks in my list.

I’m more of a task management person than a time management person, so this is essential for me, but either way, put it somewhere that will get you to process them.

I really think if you have these 4 things taken care of, you’ll be able to make your notes matter that much more and will actually use some of the things that you take notes on.

This post is inspired by the Orange Conference, a gathering of the best minds in Family Ministry where I will be taking a ton of life changing notes. Be sure to check it out if you work in Family Ministry or if you work with families in any capacity, it’s worth it.

This weekend I’ll be attending one of my favorite things during the year. The Orange Conference.

I’m always excited to go to see some friends and ask questions and learn. This year, I’m especially excited about the theme, “It’s just a Phase”

The idea of phases is one of the most fun things that I’ve been able to experience in ministry. If you didn’t know, I’ve worked in Elementary School, Middle School and now in High School Ministry.

Also if you’re skeptical, I’m not talking about those uppity Next Gen/Family Pastors (wink, wink) I’m talking really in the trenches. I’m kidding about Next Gen/Family Pastors of course.

The differences in age groups provide opportunity for greater relevancy in ministry. It’s why as our ministries grow they should get smaller in scope rather than larger. This allows us to focus our time and attention on greater needs of our families.

For instance, the difference between our 5th and 6th grade ministry and our 7th and 8th grade ministry might not seem dramatically different, but those small shifts result in dynamic conversations and ministry to families.

It’s time the church became more intentional about focusing on the age and stage that their families are in.

PLUS…

I hear there is going to be something extra incredible for people that work with middle school students this year. I can’t wait to hear about that.

Give me a should if you’re going and let me know if you’d like to sit down and chat during the conference.

What’s been happening over the last few months at my church has been fascinating. Simply fascinating.

I’ve watched God move in a church before and it was incredible. Seeing people’s lives changed for the gospel was evident. I’ve longed for that.

It’s happening.

We’ve seen students grappling with God’s word, we are seeing dads question their jobs and priorities and we are seeing God move, albeit in small pockets.

I’ve quit trying to rationalize when I hear why someone is coming to mind and I’ve quit trying to figure it out. I’m learning to just ask. You would be surprised how many conversations I’ve had lately that start out like this.

Me: “Hey, how is everything?”

Person: “um…good.”

Me: “God has been bringing you to my mind, lately. Are you sure everything is going well?”

Person: “God told you that?” “What exactly did He say?”

…story of what is happening in their life, be it victory, defeat, sorrow, or angst.

I’m watching as God’s Spirit is breathing life into people. It’s simply amazing. I wonder if we often forget about the Spirit in the trinity. This verse has been just unfolding in front of me the last few weeks:

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11

This Baptist boy is excited.

The people in church can be exhausting. It’s like listening to babies cry all the time, except they are in their mid 40s and they aren’t willing to really follow God’s voice.

But watching the Spirit move in someone’s life as they begin to understand the mystery of the Gospel is amazing.

Spend some time listening for God’s voice. Watch Him work. When He mentions someone go talk to them. Text them, call them, or go see them down the hall. Find out what God is doing.

Parents, let your kids watch you wrestle with God. Allow them to see you struggle as you try and follow His commands and leading. Allow them to see and hear what God is saying to you about your life. They are watching you. They are learning from you.

Recently, I’ve been studying for a series on relationships for our High School Students. Working only with Middle School students before, I’ve never had the opportunity to talk about this subject before. Our church chooses to give parents of 5th and 6th grade students ample opportunities to lead the conversation before the church aids the family. So this will be new for me.

It’s been challenging.

One of the things in studying that is sticking out to me is just how much a consumer driven culture has began to define everything. Certainly marriage is seeing the brunt of that, but it’s far more reaching.

In fact, I came across this article that I shared on twitter and Facebook and this quote has stuck in my brain for the last few hours:

Youth groups rarely encourage young people to grapple with tough questions. Instead the goal seems to be to engineer events that ratchet up emotional commitment.

It caused me to stop and think about church. There are quite a few attitudes from folks that help reveal how much consumerism has seeped into our culture and how the church desires to solve it emotionally rather than with true spiritual transformation.

Here’s a few attitudes that you might want to be on the lookout for.

This church isn’t meeting my needs vs. How am I meeting the needs of my church?

This is probably the one that the church workers will stand up and yell about but we are just as guilty of this attitude. How often are you mingling in other departments trying to serve them? How often are you asking if what you are working on falls in line with the vision of the house? Are you looking critically at how the church allocates funds based on your personal opinion or the opinion of Scripture?

Event driven vs. Group Driven

Our churches are becoming more and more about events. I’m not just talking about single events, but the weekend service is becoming an event, our training is becoming an event and even we are making our relationships with others out to be events.

We can neglect the time and sacrifice of meaningful relationship just by wanting to get people to gather. If transformation is the goal in our groups, time with God is of utmost importance, not garnering excitement.

Attendance over Discipleship

Attendance has become the most important metric in the Evangelical Church. How sad that the gathering of people is more important than life transformation. This isn’t a criticism of people attending churches in large groups, but our culture is shifting where emotional connection won’t be popular. It won’t be ok to go to church in the next 20 – 30 years.

Our faith will be tested. True discipleship is lacking.

I wonder if Jesus had spent more time with the crowds than with his disciples what the world would have looked like.

I know for one I’m challenged. I want the students that I work with to have real, founded, grounded faith. I want them to see Christ and who He is as the only way of life. I want them to thirst for God’s word more than the next party, event, gathering, service, etc.

Pray for your youth pastors. The middle ground of foundation building in Children’s and trying to balance the consumerism culture of adulthood is a daunting task. We need brave souls.

As you may know I’ve been posting this week for Blogger’s Week put on by the Orange Conference. I’m thankful for Orange and all they’ve done to help me in ministry and I’m more than thankful that they bought an ad on my blog on the sidebar. Be sure to check out the Orange Conference and if you are looking for a conference to really begin to ask questions and understand what Family Ministry is all about, then this is the conference for you.

I’ve been going over the 5 questions I’m Looking forward to getting answered at Orange this year.

Today’s question is more personal in nature. It actually stems from something that I’ve been working on on the side. Writing and grueling and being filled with fear, but it’s also something that has to do with my personal journey.

What is the one skill or gift that you are working hard to develop this year?

For me this question is something that I need the answer to for a variety of reasons. Every year I try and really work on one characteristic or skill that I can really work at improving. Last year it was my physical fitness. I’m continuing that this year, but my main goal and my hope is that I improve in my ability to write and produce content this year.

I’ve written more in the last few months than I may have ever written in my life. I’m trying specifically by practice, to improve this part of my repeitoire.

I’m not a pastor by training. I’m a pastor by experience and learning from others. I really wouldn’t even say that i’m good at it. My real gift is teaching and while that’s a part of the role, it’s not the largest part and in my experience it’s not the most important.

But being able to communicate effectively with the pen is something that I’ve always wanted but never really been effective at. My grammar isn’t very good and sometimes I just use too many words and don’t really tell an effective story.

But this year is different.

My hope by asking leaders this question is to provide some inspirtation for my own future training. I’m 28. I’m no longer the young person. But I’ve got a few years ahead of me as well. I really want to know which skills I should be working on in order to really improve my chances of helping others as much as I possibly can.

I really believe I’m still in my preparation phase of life. If I were using Robert Clinton’s stages of Leadership I’m in the middle of Ministry Maturing. God is working in me I feel maybe more than he is really working through me. I’m beginning to realize the need to figure out my passions, skills, and experiences and how God wants to use those most for His glory. But man it’s a tough process.

My hope in answering this question is to gain some insight from older leaders that were in this stage. Here’s some questions that I hope to ask to gain some wisdom.

What is one skill that you wish you spent more time on in your late 20s – early 30s?

What is something in ministry that you always tried to avoid doing during that time in your life?

What was God doing in you during that phase?

If you had an hour to talk about one or two things with someone my age and hope they could really benefit from it, what would you talk about?

What do you do when you see signs of spiritual growth in your students but there isn’t a correlation to attendance?

This will be the first time that I’ve been in ministry where the ministry isn’t growing in attendance in our large group progam. I made some decisions that I believe will help long term but they are proving to be a challenge in the short term.

One thing that is happening in my ministry though is I see students taking steps to grow spiritually. Like big steps.

We’ve had a huge increase in the number of teenagers volunteering in our church and we are seeing great results in middle school because of this, but our attendance in our high school program is not improving…yet.

They are also taking on roles in their schools that are growing their influence there. This is so huge knowing the way that God could use them to help others in their school.

A few questions that I’m hoping will help me find the answer…

How do communicate that great things are happening when attendance isn’t growing?

How do you stay encouraged when something isn’t going well?

How much do you focus on fixing the broken thing instead of driving full force on the things that are working?

So tell me, What have you done to stay encouraged when things aren’t going as well as you’d hope them to go?

I will tell you that this year, I’m really excited about asking some questions. So for this Orange Blogger’s Week I’m going to tell you the 5 questions that I’m most excited about answering at Orange.

Today I’ll give you the first one. It’s simply this:

What is the scorecard that you use to know if you are winning in high school ministry?

Ultimately I’m looking for some high school folks that look at their ministry and they know the fruit they are looking for.

Questions I’m asking to help me discover this:

What’s the one thing you wish all your volunteers would help students do?

Why do you do what you do every week?

What’s one thing you hope students that are around for all 4 years of your ministry leave knowing and practicing?

How does your service help them take a step further down that path?

What is the most important thing you are doing as the leader to help your ministry achieve that goal and plan?

I’m looking for answers to this question because I’m looking to give incredible clarity to leaders this year on what we are shooting for in our High School Ministry. I’m looking for God’s direction on what we should be doing and where He wants us to go. I’m hoping finding answers to these questions will help me to clarify what God is already saying and provide some ideas for tangible steps to take in our ministry.

So that’s a big question that I’m looking to find some clarity on at Orange Conference 2015. If you are interested in finding this out alongside me come hang out with me at #oc15. Drop a comment below and let me know you’ll be there. I’d love to take you out to some coffee and pick your brain.

What question in High School ministry are you hoping to answer at this year’s Orange Conference?